The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1887-03-03
A CHEERFUL GOSPEL.
A stimulating and Sustaining Atmosphere
Surrounding the Religion of Christ.

Were there no other one thing to
be said of Christianity, as a source of
blessing to mankind, one fact alone, if
appreciated, would place it apart and
on high among all the religions of the
world, either those of the present or
those of the past. This thought oc-
Cured to us as we read the opening par
agraph of the opening article in the
Baptist Quarterly Rericw for January.
Treating. in this article, of 1.-The Glory
of the Redeemed as Related to the
Work of Christ" DR.. Hcman Lincoln,
the writer of it, says:
'The Bible teaches pessimism. 1t toler-
ates none in Christian believers Its record OF
creation opens: And God saw every thing that
He had made, dad behold il ,cas reiy good 1t
goes forward with the song: The Lord is good
to all, and His loving kindness is over all His
works.. 1t closes with q vision into the New Je
rusalem, where God shall wipe all tears from
the eyes, and there shall be no more death,
neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there
be any more PAIN 1t utters no long-drawn
signs, like Buddha and Schopenhauer, that ex-
istence is an evil, because 1t has longings that
that can never be satisfied. 1t formuates no
hard dogma, like John Stuart Mill, that the Gre
ator can not be both benevolent and omnipotent.
Its tone never sinks to the minor key, when
treating Of actual life on earth, like Pascal in
his Thoughts on Religion or Baxter and Howe
in their sermons on the decline of piety, or John
Cotton and Cotton Mather in their gloomy let
ters on the decay Of Puritan zeal. The Bible
gives striking portraits Of weak and nervous
men, of mon who look instnctively on the dark
side of life and moan, like Jacob: Few and
evil have been the years of my life,' and wall,
like Solomon, after royal debauches All is
vanity and vexation of spirit But the broad
sweep OF revelation is towards gladncss and
praise. Its cheerful tone is inspiring: % that
men would praise the Lord for His goodness
Let every thing that hath breath praise the
Lord Praise the Lord, o my SOUL "
The writer of the article proceeds in
the same style of admirable discrimina-
ton yet forcible statement to show
that, even in dealing with that saddest
and most depressing fact in the history
and condition of mankind, human de-
generacy and sin, and while exhibiting
the shame of it, the guilt of it, and the
certain final perdition toward which it
tends, the Bible is still cheerful and u
hopeful book. Over against all this it
sets the redemption wrought in Christ,
and without encouraging any such no.
ton as that through some weakness of
the Judge the incorrigible sinner may
escape, and without in the least en-
feebling that motive which law and
penalty supply, this revelation of final
truth makes it clear how triumphant in
the end are goodness and happiness,
and how the light of God, shining in
the face of Jesus Christ, is yet to irrad-
late the universe.
The moral effect of cheerfulness is
perhaps not so often thought upon as it
might be to advantage. The effect of
pessimistic views of human life and tenn
per and conduct influenced by them, is
often noticed in individuals. The de.
moralizing tendency of such views is
always painfully evident. That saying
of the apostle, 1--WE are saved by hope,"
is true in very large sense, and in an
intensely practical one. Many and
many one, even as respects things of
this life, has been "saved by hope"
And there is reason to believe that
thousands upon thousands have been
ruined by sheer hopelessness. What
have You left in man to be for him
motive to exertion, a stimulus to i'm
provement either in his condition or in
himself, saving and lifting force, when
you have taken hope out Of him, and
left him shut up in prison of gloomy
thoughts. seeing all things on their
dark side, and forever saying. "Let
US eat and drink, for to o-morrow we die?
1t is doubtful IL there is one source of |
the widely prevalent tendency in these
times toward revolt against existing
conditions Of human life, against all |
that 'makes for righteousness" so in.
tensely fruitful OF evil as mixed pes.
simism and atheism. Peoepl ruled by |
such influences, when asked IL life is |
worth living, will answer yes, if you
can be allowed to spend the brief period |
Of it doing what You like, enjoying all |
1t 10 your nature to crave, with all dis
OF mine and thine. OF good and |
bad, of lawful and unlawful put out of |
the way. II life can be made scene |
Of riot In which you shall forget its
misery and its hopelessness, it is worth |
living; otherwise not. Who can won-
der that Of this hideous parentage come
lawlessness, vice, and every form OF |
and suicide.
The world will perhaps never ade-
quately know the amount OF its just
debt to the Christian religion for the |
- "a a \ Il "a n